On A Nigerian Mayor of Colorado springs , USA

[Augustine Togonu-Bickersteth]

A Nigerian Mayor of Colorado Springs USA!
sworn in on tuesday, nobody in nigeria seems to be talking about this.its strange.
Mobolade is from Lagos, Nigeria.[2] Mobolade's father worked in finance for ExxonMobil while his mother was a high school teacher. He has an older brother and two younger sisters.[3] In August 1996, Mobolade immigrated to the United States. He graduated from Bethel University in 2001.[4] He earned a master's degree from Indiana Wesleyan University in management and leadership and a Master of Divinity from the A.W. Tozer Theological Seminary at Simpson University.[3][5]
In 2010, Mobolade settled in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He co-founded two restaurants, founded a church within the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and was a ministry leader at the First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs between 2015 and 2017.[3] Mobolade was the vice president of business retention for Colorado Springs' chamber of commerce from 2017 to 2019 and small business development manager for Colorado Springs from 2019 to 2022.[3][6]
Mayor of Colorado Springs[edit]
Mobolade announced his candidacy for mayor of Colorado Springs in the 2023 election as an independent politician in April 2022.[7] In the nonpartisan blanket primary, held on April 4, Mobolade finished in first place in the 12 candidate fie #business #finance #school

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[segun ogungbemi]

Congratulations Mayor Mobolade. 

Segun Ogungbemi. 

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[gbemisoye tijani]

Congratulations Mobolade the new Mayor of Colorado Springs . Your travels & travails & credentialing detailed by Augustine-Togonu the well known Nigerian city journalist  In the 80s thru Y2k  did well by reminding 

 the revere audience of USA Dialogue for Africa.Well done & Hearty Congratulations to Molade,the Nigerian Mayor of Colorado Springs.

Best Wishes from Nigeria 

Gbemi Tijani MST

Paul Harris Fellow

Frm Unesco club leader in Ogun State in the 70s

Regional Coordinator southwest ,

Healthy Living Communications Lagos 

* Health communication consultants & publishers

* Convener : Wrappers Agenda Miscellany

Ed : Planet Forum

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[Victor Okafor]

This triumph of a Nigerian immigrant in the mayoral race in Colorado Springs USA is not only admirable, but it also serves as food-for-thought for diehard tribalists and diehard tribal commentators on the politics of Nigeria on the other side of the Atlantic.

Did anyone notice that the ruling class among the "indigenes" of Colorado Springs USA did not recruit thugs to take over polling stations to prevent “non-indigenes” physically and violently from voting for the Office of Mayor of Colorado Springs USA? On the election day, did anyone notice a mob armed with cudgels, machetes, and guns marauding the streets of Colorado Springs USA, maiming and chasing away “non-indigenes” who attempted to vote? If that had happened, what would have been the reaction of the diehard tribal commentators who, on this otherwise esteemed forum, wrote to excuse the violent broad daylight barbaric thuggery that was perpetrated against perceived “non-indigenes” of Lagos state who attempted to vote during the sordid governorship election that took place over there on March 18, 2023?

Is there any lesson learned from the glorious, 21^st-era Colorado Springs USA's mayoral victory of a Nigerian immigrant (that is, a non-indigene)? Any lessons learned?

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Sincerely,

Victor O. Okafor, Ph.D.

Professor and Head

Department of Africology and African American Studies

Eastern Michigan University

Email: vok...@emich.edu

https://www.emich.edu/aaas/

https://www.facebook.com/DAAASEMU/

Tel: 734.487.9594 

Food for Thought: 

"The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Well said Victor

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[Dr. Oohay]

“nobody in nigeria seems to be talking about this.its strange” — why do you consider it “strange”?

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[segun ogungbemi]

Okafor,

I think it is not right to compare Mayoral election in Colorado politics with Gubernatorial election in Lagos. American institutions are better developed than Nigerian institutions. Nigeria and Nigerians were integrated on major tribal groupings into geographical and regional divisions: Western Region for the Yoruba, Northern Region for the Hausa/Fulani, Eastern Region for the Igbos with a federal constitution of semi autonomous authorities of governance. It was on the basis of the federal constitution that guaranteed this that made the geographical region called Nigeria a country. 

The mindset that made the dominant Yoruba to claim their territory as uniquely theirs and to be protected for that matter as sacrosanct; and ditto for other two tribes and regions at Independence in 1960. 

That was why late Nnamdi  Azikwe who contested for the premiership of the defunct Western Region lost to late Obafemi Awolowo and late Professor Eta Eyo a non-Igbo indigene was replaced by Nnamdi Azikwe an Igbo man as premier of the defunct Eastern Region; and late Ahmadu Bello a Fulani was the premier of the defunct Northern Region. 

The mindset of mine is mine and yours is yours mental construct has made it impossible to practice what is being done in the US and besides, America is a home of immigrants while Nigeria is a home of indigenous tribal people of different extractions.

That explains why a Yoruba man cannot become the governor of Anambra State  and an Igbo man cannot become the governor of Kano State. 

I don’t think the mindset that has been ingrained in the psyches of Nigerians can change overnight; and until it changes, Nigeria cannot practice social and political grassroots structure of the United States of America. And by the way, Nigeria has no reason to do so, methinks. 

Segun Ogungbemi. 

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[segun ogungbemi]

Okafor,

I think it is not right to compare Mayoral election in Colorado politics with Gubernatorial election in Lagos. American institutions are better developed than Nigerian institutions. Nigeria and Nigerians were integrated on major tribal groupings into geographical and regional divisions: Western Region for the Yoruba, Northern Region for the Hausa/Fulani, Eastern Region for the Igbos with a federal constitution of semi autonomous authorities of governance. It was on the basis of the federal constitution that guaranteed this that made the geographical region called Nigeria a country. 

The mindset that made the dominant Yoruba to claim their territory as uniquely theirs and to be protected for that matter as sacrosanct; and ditto for other two tribes and regions at Independence in 1960. 

That was why late Nnamdi  Azikwe who contested for the premiership of the defunct Western Region lost to late Obafemi Awolowo and late Professor Eta Eyo a non-Igbo indigene was replaced by Nnamdi Azikwe an Igbo man as premier of the defunct Eastern Region; and late Ahmadu Bello a Fulani was the premier of the defunct Northern Region. 

The mindset of mine is mine and yours is yours mental construct has made it impossible to practice what is being done in the US and besides, America is a home of immigrants while Nigeria is a home of indigenous tribal people of different extractions.

That explains why a Yoruba man cannot become the governor of Anambra State  and an Igbo man cannot become the governor of Kano State. 

I don’t think the mindset that has been ingrained in the psyches of Nigerians can change overnight; and until it changes, Nigeria cannot practice social and political grassroots structure of the United States of America. And by the way, Nigeria has no reason to do so, methinks. 

Segun Ogungbemi. 

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

seems okafors focus is on the issue of violence

eg 

mc oluomo-if you are not going to vote for apc stay at home

apc thug at polling booth-you look igbo. you cant vote

also this mindset of
yoruba vcs only for unis in yoruba regions

igbo vcs only for unis in igbo regions

etc

also you cant be governor in a state no matter how long you have lived there if your parents are not from that state

are all these not part of why we are unable to fully unleash our potential

now FFK and others have advocated that land ownership laws in lagos be revisited bcs of igbo presence in lagos

FFK has also stated that the suggestion should be considered that economic zones such as Computer Village and Alaba which ''igbos have occupied'' should be torn down and used for other purposes.

the lagos state house of assembly speaker has all but declared they are moving in that direction.

i cant find the words to express my consternation as to why crippling of one's own community  represented by destroying strategic and perhaps unreplicable economic zones should be sought by anyone in the name of political power cloaked as ethnic protection.

thanks

toyin

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[segun...@gmail.com]

Toyin,

If it seems Okafor’s focus is on the violence in Lagos, it seems to me, that he is biased. He should have told us about the violence in his state in Nigeria and compare it with that of Lagos. Was it Lagos alone that there were political violence in Nigeria? 

If you are schooled with the mindset of constitutional regionalism, what you are talking about is irrelevant because it is not backed by any legal and moral warrant. 

I am aware that the Speaker of Lagos State House of Assembly was responding to the mandate the majority of the indigenes of Lagos gave to the lawmakers. 

The Igbos are not to only non-Yoruba people living in Lagos. There are Hausas in Idi-Araba, Agege, Obalende etc, the Nupes are in Oshodi and costal areas of Lagos, and other ethnic nationalities. Why is it that the Igbo’s issues have become a conflict of attrition in Lagos and almost everywhere they go in Nigeria? That is the issue you should address, Toyin. 

To have peace and unity in Nigeria, political actors must go back to the original constitutional agreements that have had its permanent imprints on the psyches of most  Nigerians. 

Segun Ogungbemi. 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 11, 2023, at 4:52 PM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Victor Okafor]

          Dear Ogungbami:

1.    A Nigerian is not an immigrant in his/her own country. Thus, Nigerians who reside in Lagos or any part of Nigeria are not immigrants. They have full citizenship rights, including the right to vote and be voted for in contests for political offices at the local, state, and federal levels.

2.    Take note that Nigeria's Constitution, which is binding on all Nigerians, provides for an unfettered right to vote and be voted for in contests for all electoral positions anywhere within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

3.    Take note also that we have a multiparty system, and so, it’s natural for contestants to seek political office from different political platforms. The rights of such lawfully registered parties and their supporters must be respected and affirmed during all political electoral processes. That is the constitutional position as of today!

4.    Currently, we are a Federal Republic made up of 36 states and a federal capital territory. This federal republic is not made up of regions though it used to be.

5.    So, continued references to regions or regional rights are an anachronistic throwback to a past that does not exist anymore. It is a sort of wishful, divisive, and antagonistic thinking that belies the current reality of Nigeria’s geopolitical configuration. It is an exercise in backward reasoning, not forward thinking.

6.    In your visioning for and about Nigeria, you need not focus solely on you and you only; think also of the greater good, the boat that contains all of us.

7.    Though both mega territories of Lagos and Abuja did and do have aboriginal populations, the fact remains that both Lagos and Abuja were developed, by and large, with federal capital that belongs to all Nigerians from the Commonwealth fund. Without federal capital, neither Lagos nor Abuja would be what they are today.

8.    That federal capital or commonwealth fund was not Tiv capital; it was not Ijaw capital; it was not Igbo capital; it was not Yoruba capital; it was not Hausa capital; it was not Effik capital; it was not Nupe capital; it was not Christian capital; it was not Muslim capital; it was and it is federal capital that belonged and still belongs to Nigerians as a collective entity, as a constitutional republic. It is our collectively owned capital. To argue otherwise is to act like a highly self-centered bully who wants to arrogate common rights to himself/herself at the expense of others.

9.    In that respect, Lagos and Abuja are not the same as Jos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Enugu, Ilorin, or Asaba. And, given that both Lagos and Abuja were largely developed with federal capital, in what manner should that fact of Nigerian life be factored into claims and counterclaims about rights and obligations of Nigerian citizens, indigenes and non-indigenes, who reside in and have vested interests in Lagos and Abuja?

10. No one contends that purely indigenous social and civic rights (such as kingship and similar rights that belong to the domain of traditional culture) do not exist across the Federal Republic or that they should not be accorded due Constitutional and legal protections.

11. All Nigerians have a civic obligation to be sensitive to and respectful of the social and civic rights of aboriginal populations in any part of the federation. In that respect, no place deserves to be referred to as a “no man’s land.”

12. It seems that some of us are trying to eat from both sides of the mouth. On the one hand, when Lagos and Abuja were being built and transformed into modern mega cities with federal capital that belonged and still belongs to all, tribal claims of ownership were not invoked to stop such federal investments, including infrastructural investments. That is, when it came to cost of doing the business of developing and building up Lagos, we all gladly subscribed to using federal funds that belonged to all to defray such costs, but when it comes to benefits that accrue from collective investments made with collective federal money, we selfishly jump up and demand that only “indigenes,” only members of “our tribe,” ought to have access to the benefits? Is that the absurd case that is being made?

 

 

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[segun...@gmail.com]

Dear Victor Okafor,

1. Would you please pay specific attention to the issues l have addressed and respond pungently to them: the historical agreement that made Nigeria a united country was in the 1960/1963 Independence and Republican Constitutions. Without them Nigeria as we know it today wouldn’t have existed, adherence to it has impacts on the psyches or mindsets of most Nigerians and any derailment of the two constitutions will cause disunity in the country. 

2. The 1999 Constitution whether as amended or not; is the cause of what Nigeria is going through today: agitations by different ethnic nationalities for self-determination etc. 

3. You seemed not to know the geography of Lagos. The defunct Western Region included Apapa, Mushin, Somolu, Ikeja, Badagry, Ajagunle, Oshodi Epe, Ikorodu, Alimosho, Ojo, Oworonsoki, Olodumare, Itseri etc. Tell me if the Federal Government was responsible for the developments of those places. 

4. The Federal capital land area then was Lagos Island, Mainland, Victoria Island and Obalande. They were the places Federal government contributed to its development.

5. There will be no Nigeria as long as people like you failed to know the impacts of the original mindsets of different ethnic groups before independence and after independence because they are different people of different cultures, beliefs and practices. The 1960/1963 constitutions allayed the fears of ethnic dominations in the country. 

6. The British succumbed to federal constitutionalism for their own interest. Any unitary system that is robed as federal system will not succeed. And that is the truth my dear Victor Okafor. 

Segun Ogungbemi.  

 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jun 12, 2023, at 12:46 PM, 'Victor Okafor' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:



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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Thanks gentlemen 

I have been avoiding this thread 

For me it’s like seeing my home being torn apart

It’s true that some Igbos have referred to Lagos as no man’s land in a number of senses one of those being as a collective belonging 

another as a melting pot of opportunity as my Facebook and face to face encounters with a few Igbos have confirmed after I began to investigate the subject

It’s also through that APC Yoruba political actors have made a point of anti Igbo verbal and physical  harassment in successive elections as demonstrated by the Oba’s declaration that he would throw Igbos into the lagoon if they did not vote for Ambode 

the news of physical harassment in Igbo dominated areas in twenty nineteen and the recent most virulent invocation of anti Igbo speech and action at the last elections from demonizing guber candidate Rhodes Vivors Igbo connections to open threats of intimidation to outright declarations of Igbos as enemies of Yorubas and of the need to cut back Igbo economic presence through drastic measures  as well as the actual burning of a market in which Igbos are prominent 

A lot of this fire comes from the terrible shock of APC losing Lagos to Labour a setback threatening to repeat Ziks victory which Awo overturned by getting the Yorubas to abandon Zik

if my info is inaccurate anyone may share their views since I saw Segun did not mention that part of the story 

It’s also claimed that Igbos ethnicisised the Labour Party victory in Lagos 

I don’t know if it’s true

Presposterous claims were made on this group about IPOB staking a claim to Lagos on the back of the victory of the Labour Party the ridiculousness of which views I believe has been made clear by the debate on the subject 

The political class are milking this division so as to prevent a repeat of the defeat by labour a defeat not too surprising after EndSars with the populace wanting to move away from APC and PDP

Living in Lagos I see great potential in the process of being diluted squandered or destroyed by this conflict 

 

Great places such as Computer Village which may be favorably compared to Cambridge UKs glorious Science Park and the awesome US Silicon Valley have been suggested by prominent APC spokesman FFK as places occupied by Igbos which should be torn down 

Why should we insist on removing our eye beceause the eye is itching

I’m very very worried 

Our country is a struggling  country in which citizens struggle against great odds 

Why this perpetual internecine fighting  

What is the place of our universities on the global stage 

The same UI of the legendary days of Hezekaiah Oluwasamni Kenneth Dike and others is the same place where a successful case was made that the now incumbent VC must be from Ibadan 

Were Ibadan scholars being shortchanged earlier and if so what steps could be taken to stop that rather than a flat demand for an indigenous VC

Everywhere it’s a similar story yet what level of visibility do these universities have globally 

To what degree do they attract students researchers and teachers from other countries seeking to be where light is shining 

Seguns argument did not reference the UK which can’t be called a place settled by immigrants but where the PM and the Mayor of London are people very different from the older  indigenous population 

Our country suffers too much from short term thinking 

How can we harness our collective creativity and aim for the stars as we work to make sure we respect each other’s rights and sensibilities should be the vision not this claim of economic and land protectionism and revoking whatever can be revoked as the Lagos speaker had declared 

Is it forbidden for Lagos to be like New York or like London in terms of cosmopolitan achievement 

Why must we insist on going backward with things already as bad as they are with inadequate water intermittent electricity poor social services etc

That’s why I gave my post the heading I did 

Time precious time and energy are being wasted in my view on nothing 

on approaches that are self defeating 

Thanks 

Toyin

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[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

Expanded

Thanks gentlemen 

I have been avoiding this thread 

For me it’s like seeing my home being torn apart

It’s true that some Igbos have referred to Lagos as no man’s land in a number of senses one of those being as a collective belonging 

another as a melting pot of opportunity as my Facebook and face to face encounters with a few Igbos have confirmed after I began to investigate the subject

I’ve also read and listened to Igbo celebration of their contributions to Lagos doing this celebration  in ways that are insensitive triumphalist and insulting to Yorubas